3/31/14

Good Morning Friends!! I hope everyone had a well rested weekend! My weekend was spent taking care of sicklies at my household. My husband came down with a cold and as soon as he started to feel better, out came the runny nose of my little one. It turned out to be an up all night and bright-n-early kind of weekend for us. Before the overwhelming tissue pile up began, I was able to hang an adorable wooden name banner in McKenzie's room from the wonderful baby/children online shop New Arrivals Inc! Yay For Progress (nursery reveal coming very soon!).

When I was approached by New Arrivals Inc to share their store with you, I couldn't have been more excited as I was just starting the "McKenzie's Room Project" and knew that I would have a field day browsing their adorable online shop. New Arrivals Inc was founded in 1988 by talented mommy of three, Tori Swaim! She literally started her crafty endeavor out of her garage when she had the desire to build a more chic solution to her little one's baby wipe case. From there, her ideas continued to flow creating a line of high end nursery decor and accessories. At New Arrivals Inc. you will find a collection of chic Nursery Bedding, Nursery Decor, Nursery Letters, Baby Gifts!

As I began browsing for an item to add to McKenzie's room, I found the perfect piece that I knew would help round out the wall above her crib. The New Arrival's IncWooden Flag Letters won me over. Each letter is painted antique white with dark gray letter text. They offer a variety of ribbon colors to choose from to help coordinate with your space. For McKenzie's room, I chose an ivory ribbon to go along with neutral color scheme that was already in place.

I have to say that Mr. Alfred the Deer and our new Wooden Flag Letters make pretty adorable wall companions.

Whenever we go into her room now, she points up at Alfred and her sign. So of course we point and sound out each letter of her name. I'm definitely going to shed a happy tear the day she is able to point and sound out each letter all by herself.

To welcome you to their charming baby decor online shop, New Arrivals Inc is offering all Fawn Over Baby Readers a Special Promotion!

3/28/14

Happy Friday Friends! Today I am leaving you with a stunning beach maternity session, incredibly captured by the wonderful BNK Photgraphy. Based out of Pittsburgh, Pa & South Florida, talented photographer Breanne chose a calm and natural setting for her client Vasiliki's maternity session to take place. She says, "We planned this shoot around natural colors, a beach setting(something Pittsburg lacks haha) and a place that would make her daughter feel more comfortable." This maternity session is extra special as big sister made an adorable appearance dressed in her beautiful beach best. I love seeing photos of siblings listening in on their baby brother or sister with excitement. You can so see the love and excitement this sweet big sister and her mommy have toward their soon to be new addition. With this natural landscape setting the scene, Breanne was able to capture the true authentic nature of this stunning mommy in waiting in the most genuine and real way. These photos are an amazing depiction of the love and joy a mother and older sibling have toward each other as they await the special day that is soon to come.

3/25/14

Good Morning Everyone! I hope your start of the week went smoothly and the rest ends on a happy note! In the meantime I'm excited to introduce you to one of my wonderful side-bar Fawn Friends who will surely have you singing a happy tune with her amazing artwork. Meet exceptionally talented and ever so generous, Stephanie DiCarlo. She is a fellow mommy blogger, artist and shop owner of Unexpected Knock! You might recognize her shop from my One Year Blogiversary Giveaway last week. She kindly contributed her AMAZING "Flying Alphabet" Print as part of the fun giveaway package #1.

At Unexpected Knock, you will find the most amazing "bird" themed alphabet artwork, hand drawn by Stephanie herself. Each illustration is nature inspired with a sweet little bird sitting perched atop each letter.

All artwork for sale is available in chromogenic and giclee print, and printed on matte photographic paper. This print would be perfect for any baby's nursery, child's bedroom or playroom!

You may also purchase each letter as a digital download, making for the perfect "initial" print in any space in your home or workplace!

These unique, hand drawn nature inspired prints are a wonderful way to add a touch of nature in a beautifully handdrawn way! To purchase the Flying Letter or Alphabet, feel free to browse Unexpected Knock's Collection on Etsy!

For all updates and promotions, follow along with Stephanie on her blog Unexpected Knock! You will also find so many wonderful How-Tos and Recipes that Stephanie is so kind enough to share!

3/24/14

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Whether my weekends are spent being lazy or being productive, I always feel refreshed come Monday when I spend it with the people I love, doing the things that I love. Well.....I take that back - it all depends on if my little one wakes up feeling refreshed (that is usually a good indicator of how the rest of the day will play out). So far the new piece that I added to her room (nursery reveal coming soon) has helped to brighten her morning and start her off on the right foot.

When I FINALLY decided on a theme (if you want to call it that) for McKenzie's new room, I knew I wanted to keep it neutral and bright. After moving from Alaska, my rustic appreciation came with me and I decided to somehow incorporate it in her room. We started with the Pallet Wall (DIY coming soon), then added The Alfred which added even more of that outdoor feel but in a chic and modern way.

Painted all white with gold painted antlers, The Alfred is cast out of polyresin material allowing for light weight and easy handling.

In the mornings when I walk into McKenzie's room, she greets me with her pointing up to Alfred asking "what z aaaaat" with a big smile on her face. She is so thrilled that she gets to wake up to a new animal friend that she normally only points to in the pages of her animal books or puzzles.

The gold antlers add the perfect amount of shine and sparkle to dress up her cozy little crib nook. To save on space and for protection during shipping, they come wrapped separately/disassembled. However, they are super easy to snap into place and mounting took literally 2 seconds with nail already in place.

I couldn't be happier with how well our new animal friend fits in perfectly in our home. The double plus, is that it took no time at all for McKenzie to warm up to him.

If you would like to add your own fabulous faux animal mount to your home decor, White Faux Taxidermy is offering all Fawn Over Baby Readers 15% Off your purchase today! Simply use code FawnOverWFT14 at checkout and 15% will be deducted from your total!! YEY! Are you as excited as I am? Stop by WFT to pick the perfect match for your space today!

3/19/14

Good evening everyone! I have some exciting news for all of my fellow Pinterest lovers! I have the honor and privilege of guest-pinning on Project Nursery's "Made In The USA Pin-It Party" tonight at 6PMPDT/9PMEDT along with a fantastic group of top designers, design enthusiasts and bloggers. I couldn't be more excited, as they are woman that I am creatively inspired by and follow daily.

When it comes to nursery designs, we all know that nursery furniture is our first thing on the list to check off. They are usually the big focal point and the pieces that we all tend to gravitate to. Well tonight we are spotlighting a collection of beautifully crafted nursery furniture by the wonderful Munire Furntiure and Baby Cache.

Here are a few designs that I put together in honor of tonight's "Made In The USA" Inspired Nursery Design using these beautiful furniture brands and decor pieces that are all (but a few) made In The USA! I also stayed within the traditional red, white and blue color scheme in honor of our American Flag!

3/17/14

Where do I start!! I guess I'll start with, how amazed I am that a year has already passed since my first blog post on Fawn Over Baby! When I first launched onto the blog scene, I had no idea what was to come of my little bloggy hobby. Through this wonderful journey, I've met so many incredible fellow bloggers, amazing photographers and creatively talented small business owners! I unknowingly stepped into an exciting online community that I'm so happy to be apart of! My blog has truly brought me so much joy and many wonderful friendships that I'm so thankful for.

To celebrate how far Fawn Over Baby has come in just one year and to Thank Each and Every One Of You For Your Support and Readership, I am throwing a fun little GIVEAWAY Party and EVERYONE is invited!!

I would like to Thank my WONDERFUL giveaway contributors! I'm taken back by the overwhelming support and generosity they have given me in honor of my One Year Blog Anniversary. It truly means so much and I'm so thrilled that they chose to share in this celebration with me. Its because of these talented bloggers and incredible shop owners that I am able to giveaway 4 AMAZING PRIZES to 4 FAWN OVER BABY READERS! This giveaway will run through Thursday of this week, March 20th 11:59 EST. I will announce our winners (selected randomly) on Friday, March 21st! I hope you are just as excited as I am and I wish you all the best of Luck!!

>>Thank you again for the love, support and encouragement you have shown me throughout this past year! My hope is to continue sharing my lovely little baby inspirations and rookie DIY attempts for many years to come!<<

3/13/14

Happy Friday! I love it when I get to start my post off with such a positive message, don't you? Friday's are always so exciting, knowing that we have a few days off from the hustle and bustle (...well most of the time). If you are one of the lucky ones that have time on your hands and would like to partake in a quick and easy project, I have a wonderful recipe that will have your mini-me thanking you all weekend long.

A few weeks ago, I shared a tutorial on how to make your own CHALKpaint when I updated McKenzie's toddler table and chairs. Well today, I decided to kick it up a notch by adding chalkboard paint to the top of her table. She looooooves outdoor chalk, so I thought why not add a chalkboard to her tabletop and allow for a little indoor chalk play too? Especially when we get those rainy weeks here in Georgia, this would make for the perfect rainy day activity. The only thing that I was a little hesitant about was the color. I didn't want the normal black or green and I wasn't 100% sold on the color options that I found at my local hardware store, so I did a little research and found that you can easily make your own color chalkboard paint! Thanks to the wonderful ladies over at A Beautiful Mess and their easy tutorial on how to make your own chalkboard paint in any color, I was able to whip up a batch in no time at all! I had most of the ingrediants from my chalkpaint project, so I only spent a little over $2 (on a sample size paint at Lowes) for this project! yey for savings! It turned out so adorable and coordinates so well with the over all color scheme in McKenzie's room (nursery reveal coming soon!). All you have to do is add the color of choice and your chalkboard paint is ready to coordinate any space in your home! :) So let's get to it!!

How To Make Your Chalkboard Paint in Your Color Of Choice!

Ingrediants:

1/2 cup of indoor paint (any color)

1 tablespoon of unsanded grout (white)

Painter's Tape

Paint Cup

Paint Brush

Painter's Stick

Instructions:

Just pour a 1/2 cup of paint into your paint cup & Stir in 1 tablespoon of unsanded grout until smooth

Tape off the area in which you are going to paint (optional). Dry Completely

Condition your chalkboard by going over entire area with a piece of chalk then wipe off.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Your Chalkboard Is Now Ready To Display Your Chalk Art!

****Note****

Many photos posted are not mine. If you see a photo of yours without credit, please let me know and I will be glad to add your name. If you wish for me to remove your photos, I will be happy to do so. Thank you :)